Rajeev Shukla, the IPL Chairman and senior member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has promised to make India’s premier T20 competition bigger and better in the upcoming edition, IBN Live reports. Shukla also added that the franchises have been asked to make the IPL more fan-friendly.
He was speaking to reporters after holding an IPL workshop which was attended by representatives of all the eight franchises, including members of the two latest franchises to be based in Pune and Rajkot.
"It was a very fruitful day with franchise representatives taking an active part in the exchanges. The main focus on how we can make the experience of fans better, their comfort. The IPL-9 will be bigger and better,” Shukla told PTI.
Shukla said emphasis will be laid on developing more IPL-based fan parks which were a huge success upon its introduction during the IPL 8 season. The fan-parks were developed with the aim of attracting more viewers to the IPL, especially women and children, allowing cricket fans to enjoy the IPL action in a stadium-like setting with matches being screened on the giant screen with the addition of live music and other entertainment.
The parks were based in cities which did not have an IPL team and Shukla said that the BCCI are planning to increase their numbers from the present 16 to 32.
“The IPL fan-based parks were a huge hit last year. So from 16 fan parks across the countries, we are planning to increase it to 32. " IPL chairman Shukla said.
No discussions on Lodha panel recommendations: Rajeev Shukla
When questioned as to whether he had held discussions with the IPL franchises with regards to the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, Shukla replied in the negative and said the matter had to be discussed within the BCCI first before putting the same before the IPL team owners.
The committee appointed by the honourable Supreme Court of India has advised BCCI’s affiliated state units to convene a meeting of its managing committee before the end of this month to discuss its implications.
Shukla said that the BCCI is committed to act on the directive issued by the committee and added that the board president Shashank Manohar is looking into the same.
"No there has been no discussions on that. First, BCCI members need to meet and discuss the recommendations by the panel. Our president Shashank Manohar is looking into the matter," Shukla said.
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